About
Mission
Pittsburgh Center for Disability Justice seeks to advance the equity of disabled people in all realms of life. PCDJ believes in inclusive education, policy, and community for disabled people. We work to make disabled voices heard in conversations about disability and to empower disabled leaders in our community, using principles of the disability rights movement and intersectional feminism.
Vision
We envision a world that every person can access, no matter the way their bodies or minds differ from non-disabled norms.
Our goals are to build a robust support system for disabled people in Western PA; to train, support, and consult with local organizations in order to support disabled people with emphasis on self-determination; to empower disabled community leaders; to directly meet the needs of disabled adults via mutual aid facilitation; and to work with policymakers to ensure disabled voices are reflected in public policy.
Values
Our core values emphasize the self-determination and leadership of disabled people. We believe that leadership by disabled people is central to building and achieving our vision for the future.
Community Values
Pittsburgh Center for Disability Justice (PCDJ) is sensitive to the inherent power dynamics present between helpers and people who need help. Our strongly held values regarding dignity and self-determination lead us to intentionally choose not to use our clients’ and community members’ likenesses in our promotional materials. Likewise, we will never ask for testimonials. We believe that asking for these things reinforces the power dynamics we seek to dismantle. If someone feels they cannot say no without risking something, then a request is, in essence, a demand. For these reasons, you will not find photographs of our work or client testimonials on our website. As we resume in-person social activities held in public spaces, you may find photographs of those events over time! Even in social situations, we always want to prioritize the comfort and dignity of our community members so they can show up in these spaces as fully as possible. So any future photo-taking will be considered with intention and, of course, consent. Questions about this policy can be directed to opal@disabledpgh.org.
PCDJ History
Cori Fraser founded the Pittsburgh Chapter of the Autistic Self-Advocacy Network (ASAN). Originally, the organization was a meetup and discussion group for Autistic adults.
Jessica Benham (later elected to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives from the 36th district, the first openly LGBTQ+ woman and first openly autistic person elected to the Pennsylvania General Assembly) joined ASAN Pittsburgh. The organization began to grow exponentially, increasing event attendance, and leading to an amicable separation from the Autistic Self Advocacy Network.
The independent organization, Pittsburgh Center for Autistic Advocacy, was founded and became a fiscally sponsored project of Side Project, Inc.
We created the online community of Disability Pittsburgh Mutual Aid to facilitate the sharing of physical, institutional, and financial resources. This robust and active group has grown into the largest mutual aid network in the Southwestern PA region and responds in real time to the urgent and emergent needs of disabled adults.
The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic opened our eyes to more avenues to serve our community, and we began serving all adults in the region with disabilities, rather than focusing exclusively on the Autistic adult population.
In direct response to rising community needs, such as peer information sharing, healthcare support, food and housing insecurity, and peer mental health counseling, we expanded our work beyond advocacy to provide direct aid to the disabled community in the greater Pittsburgh Metro area. We continue to provide 1:1 support to disabled adults, distribute gently used Durable Medical Equipment (DME), and continuously evolve to meet the ever-increasing needs of our disabled community.
Opal M became our Executive Director and changed our name to Pittsburgh Center for Disability Justice. This community-driven evolution establishes an organizational focus on all disabled adults in the Pittsburgh region, with plans to build a robust community-driven center that can responsively meet current and evolving community needs.